Cairo: Egypt's army said on Sunday it would try 190 people in a military court over clashes between Muslims and Christians near a Cairo church that left 10 dead.

"The Supreme Military Council decided to send all those who were arrested in yesterday's events, that is 190 people, to the Supreme Military Court...," the army said on its Facebook page.

Prime Minister calls for cabinet meeting

Egypt's Prime Minister Essam Sharaf called an urgent cabinet meeting on Sunday and postponed a Gulf visit after clashes between Muslims and Christians in Cairo left nine people dead, state media said.

Special coverage: Unrest in Middle East

"Prime Minister Sharaf has called for an emergency meeting of the cabinet to discuss the regrettable events in Imbaba," Ahmed al-Saman, a cabinet spokesman told the official MENA news agency.

PM Sharaf "has decided to postpone his visit to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates,"  which had been scheduled for Sunday, state TV reported.

Sectarian clashes

Five people were killed and 54 were injured in sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians in a populous area near Cairo, health officials said on Saturday night.

The clashes, in which firearms and Molotov cocktails were used, erupted when Muslim fundamentalists or Salafists attempted to break into a church in the district of Imamba, northwest of Cairo, to free a Christian woman who had allegedly converted to Islam, according to eyewitnesses.

Several houses caught fire during the fighting, they added.

The Army, who has been ruling Egypt since the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak last February, sent armoured vehicles and military police to the area in a bid to contain the situation, Egyptian TV said.

The incident was the latest in a series of sectarian tensions, which have erupted in this predominately Muslim country over the past two months.

Last March, 13 Muslims and Christians were killed in clashes on the outskirts of Cairo after a church was torched.

In late April, Salafists staged a massive protest outside a major cathedral in Cairo demanding the Church to release a wife of a priest, who had allegedly converted to Islam.
 

– With input from agencies